I Disagree

The outspoken liberal voice on the Fox News show When you’re outnumbered four to one on a daily basis, you better know your stuff. When you’re outnumbered four to one on the highest-rated show on cable news, you better have your beliefs on lockdown. Welcome to the world of Jessica;Tarlov, an unflappable liberal voice on Fox News Channel’s In the conservative fishbowl of Tarlov models an important and accessible route to building bravery for these conversations. Now, she demonstrates that navigating contentious situations is a skill that requires radical honesty, knowing how to engage with numbers and statistics, understanding when to listen and when to talk, and articulating the common threads that unite us all. Tarlov has honed these skills with practice, and here, she reveals her tricks of the trade for the first time. Whether you find yourself at a charged dinner-time debate with the in-laws, or in a tricky conversation with your boss, Jessica Tarlov will teach you how to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone--and why standing alone doesn’t mean standing apart.

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Jessica Tarlov

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**NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The outspoken liberal voice on the Fox News show The Five shows us how to stay true to our values, find common ground, and communicate with confidence when engaging across political and social divides.

“A helpful guide to engaging with those who think differently from you—and doing it in a thoughtful and civil way.”—Katie Couric**

Imagine you’re sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, knowing it’s going to get heated. One uncle is ready to argue about politics, another relative has very different views, and you usually try to stay out of it, even though you have strong opinions yourself. Conversations like these have split some families up. Now imagine that dinner table debate broadcast daily to millions.

Welcome to the world of Jessica Tarlov, an unflappable liberal voice on Fox News Channel’s The Five. When you’re outnumbered four to one on a daily basis, you better know your stuff. When you’re outnumbered four to one on the highest-rated show on cable news, you better have your beliefs on lockdown.

In the conservative fishbowl of The Five, Tarlov is no stranger to navigating thorny, often contentious debates with poise, authenticity, and conviction. In this riveting guide, Jessica Tarlov shows us how she does it. Because at some point or other, we all face disagreements—whether with colleagues, family, or friends—and want to walk away with both our values and our relationships intact.

Tarlov models an important and accessible route to building bravery for these conversations. She demonstrates that navigating contentious situations is a skill that requires radical honesty, knowing how to engage with numbers and statistics, understanding when to listen and when to talk, and articulating the common threads that unite us all. Tarlov has honed these skills with practice, and here, she reveals her tools of the trade for the first time. She also explores the future of coalition building, the policies that will animate voters, and a politics we can all feel better about.

Whether you find yourself at a charged debate with the in-laws, or in a tricky conversation with your boss, Jessica Tarlov will prepare you to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone—and why standing alone doesn’t mean standing apart.

Leseprobe
1

Taking S* From the Most Powerful Man in the World**

Twenty-four hours before American B-2 bombers entered Iranian airspace to drop “bunker buster” bombs on a nuclear enrichment site at Fordow, Donald Trump was mired in meetings about the future of the Middle East.

That’s when he decided to take a break and post about me.

It was June 20, 2025. A summer Friday. And everything outside of politics was relatively calm. First week of summer camp for our toddler—drop-off went much more smoothly than we’d expected. Our fourteen-month-old had just started walking, so there was a panicked discussion about baby-proofing the house, even though we were arguably a few weeks late to it. The second child really does get the short end of the stick when it comes to attention. Good reminder to apologize to my younger sister for all the neglect she certainly suffered.

All in all, it was a usual day that was going to become highly unusual in just a few hours. I headed uptown for The Five. Our first segment was about the fact that Trump had announced he might take as long as two weeks to decide whether he was going to bomb Iran, the region’s leading sponsor of terror and an avowed enemy of the United States.

Jesse Watters saw through the ruse. “He could say two weeks, and the bombs could rain down tomorrow,” he told our viewers, more than a little prophetically. When it was my turn, I pivoted to the facts (as I knew them at 5:10 p.m.).

Israel was insistent that Iran was on the cusp of enriching enough uranium to make a bomb. Our analysts weren’t as sure. “Jesse might be right,” I said. “It may happen tomorrow. It may happen in two weeks. It might happen in a year. The U.S. intel is completely split on this. Donald Trump is going to have to pick which camp he’s in.” But we did know some things for certain: “The idea that Donald Trump adheres to deadlines is ludicrous. The man promised us a health care plan over 450 weeks ago. It’s been infrastructure week since before I was born.” Rhetorical flourish for effect.

I felt pretty good about what I’d said. Then Trump’s former press spokesperson, Kayleigh McEnany, leapt in to defend her old boss. “It’s preposterous to say Trump is not a man of action,” she retorted.

“It’s not about action,” I replied, trying to return to the central point about whom to believe, Israel or our own analysts. She cut me off, the way I often get cut off on The Five.

“Hold on, I listened to your whole minute and a half, and I didn’t interrupt you. Because I know you don’t like that.”

“No one likes that,” I shot back.

That’s the way things go on the show.

The next segment was about Trump’s reaction to the protests in L.A. The latest polling showed Trump was 15% underwater on his handling of the demonstrations, and –24% with Independents. A Pew Research poll was bleaker: 49% of respondents thought he’d gone too far, while 54% disapproved of his workplace raids. Our own Fox poll showed he was –7% on immigration. My take was straightforward: “When we say people don’t like this it’s because they don’t like it.”

Things lightened up from there. A bit about Sabrina Carpenter banning cameras at her shows; a married guy who fell in love with his AI girlfriend; the song we’d all choose if we could have walk-on music. (“Papa Don’t Preach” by Madonna, which I probably wouldn’t have picked if I’d had more time to decide.)

It felt like a low-key day, frankly. No one was particularly mad at anyone else. I got to make my points and hopefully make viewers think twice about an issue or two they had their minds made up about. I checked Twitter, and it confirmed that not much had really happened. It was the usual mix of “Jessica Tarlov is a ratings disaster” and “Jessica Tarlov is a hero.” As with everything, the reality was somewhere in the middle.

Then my phone started lighting up. Text messages streaming in from Democratic staffers. Fox colleagues. Talking heads on other networks. (We are friends! Or at least some of us.) A f…